Mean Creek

Near the beginning of Mean Creek, 13-year-old Sam (Rory Culkin) joins his girlfriend Millie (Carly Schroeder) for their idea of a date. Millie breaks the awkward silence with three dutiful get-to-know-you questions.

“What does your dad do?”

Sam answers that his father sells car stereos.

There’s a pause. Then Millie asks, “Do you believe in God?”

Sam looks at her like she’s an alien. “That’s a strange question.”

Millie thinks some more, and settles on another question: “What’s it like being male?”

They both laugh.

It’s a fleeting exchange, one that will probably be forgotten in the nightmarish intensity of all that’s about to happen. But in retrospect, it’s revelatory. Millie’s questions parallel three larger questions that linger in the film like storm clouds ready to break: If these kids really have parents, where are they, and why aren’t they serving as healthy role models? Is there anyone higher to watch over these lost teens, to offer them guidance and healing, to forgive the damage they do to each other? And finally—what is it that makes a boy a man?

Mean Creek is set in a small Oregon town where kids don’t have much to do but get into trouble. Sam’s a timid, intelligent boy who gets the snot beat out of him by the playground bully George (Josh Peck). When Sam’s older brother Rocky (Trevor Morgan) finds out, he tells his two buddies, Clyde (Ryan Kelley) and Marty (Scott Mechlowicz). They decide to teach the bully a lesson.

Sam’s not so sure: “If we hurt him, we’d be just as bad as him.”

“We need to hurt him without really hurting him,” Rocky explains.